A subtle improvement in Windows 7 is the ability to drag a maximised window. In previous versions of Windows if you had an application window maximised (such as a Microsoft Word window maximised) you would need to restore (or un-maximise) the window prior to attempting to drag the window to a different place on the screen. However, in Windows 7 you can click and drag on the title bar of a maximised window and it will automatically un-maximise the window when you start dragging. A small change, but something which could potentially make life easier for you.

For several months I have been experiencing connection problems with my pre-paid 3G broadband connection. Frequently a message appears informing that I need to recharge even though I have not exhausted my credit, although the message does eventually go away. More problematic though is that the bars in the connection manager vary and sometimes I am informed that it is “roaming” (whatever that means) even though the computer is in the same location every day. I assume this is why in Outlook I frequently receive messages saying that the connection to the server has failed: “Server: smtp.gmail.com. Protocol: SMTP. Port: 465. Socket error: 10060. Error: 0×800CCC0E” and “Server: pop.gmail.com. Protocol: POP3. Port: 995. Socket error: 10060. Error: 0×800CCC0E”. This will generally right itself, but can take anywhere from a few minutes to (more often) several hours. The other interesting aspect is that while I cannot access email or the internet, the bytes count still goes up in the “Sent” and “Received” columns in the internet connection status box. This is a maddening problem because I now only have intermittent and unpredictable access to email and the internet. Can you help please? (more…)

A problem has occurred with the installation of Mozilla Firefox on my computer and I need to reinstall the software. Is it possible to save my current bookmarks so that they can be brought back into the new version of Firefox? The computer is running Windows XP. (more…)

Having been a reader of your columns for quite a while I recall that you previously recommended using Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-Aware. However, when now mentioning scanning software you don’t usually recommend these packages but instead talk about Microsoft Security Essentials and NOD32. Why is that? (more…)

If you need to quickly type a single number on your iPhone, then tapping the number key (to switch from the alphabetic keyboard to the numeric keyboard), followed by tapping the number, then tapping the alphabetic keyboard key (to return to the alpha keyboard) is a long-winded process involving three taps. However, this can be shorted to one tap and drag. Tap and hold the number key (you will notice the numeric keyboard appears without needing to lift your finger from the screen) and then without lifting your finger drag across to the number you wish to insert and then release your finger. That number will be typed/inserted and the keyboard will then flick back to the alphabetic keyboard without any further taps.